These influential and historic cases, taken together, address the still-unresolved (at the time) issue of school segregation, and whether efforts should be taken to eliminate this segregation. In San Bernardino v. NAACP, the court acknowledges that racial segregation exists within the San Bernardino school district, and that the district is constitutionally obligated to attempt to alleviate this segregation. It also admits that the same court "...relying upon statutory and administrative provisions that have since been repealed -- utilized an improper 'racial balance' standard in determining which schools within the district are unconstitutionally segregated" and determined that this standard needed to be revised.

Between 1966-1972, the San Bernardino school district (which was, demographically, around 62 % white) had, it was determined, taken steps to alleviate segregation and had been somewhat successful. It was questioned whether this improved situation was actually because of the district's efforts. For example, the district had not implemented mandatory busing, which the NAACP objected to. They also requested that the district not only eliminate segregation, but "racial imbalance."

Also in question were sections 5002 and 5003 of the education code, which Proposition 21 sought to repeal. The court writes: "Section 5002 replaced this administrative policy statement with a legislative declaration of policy directing responsible public officials to "prevent and eliminate racial and ethnic imbalance in pupil enrollment" (italics added) and declaring that "[t]he prevention and elimination of such imbalance shall be given high priority in all decisions relating to school sites, school attendance areas, and school attendance practices." fn. 12 Section 5003, in turn, provided, inter alia, that "a racial or ethnic imbalance is indicated in a school if the percentage of pupils of one or more racial or ethnic groups differs significantly from the districtwide percentage." (Ed. Code, § 5003, subd. (c).) Finally, an administrative regulation promulgated under the authority of section [17 Cal. 3d 321] 5003, subdivision (e) defined a racially or ethnically imbalanced school more specifically as one in which "the percentage of pupils of one or more racial or ethnic groups differs by more than 15 percentage points from that in all the schools in the district." (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 5, former § 14021, subd. (c).)"

The court concludes: "...except insofar as it defines 'desegregation' with reference to a racial balance concept, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed and the case is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion." The Crawford case also included here proved useful in establishing precedent, and a review of that case would be necessary to understanding San Bernardino in its entirety. The "Robbins Amendment" (Prop. 1) was a 1979 ballot measure to end all mandatory busing and reassignment in Los Angeles, and the measure passed by more than a 2/3rds vote. This amendment stated that the school districts were not mandated to "exceed the guarantees" of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment